Simon Pegg has cornered the market on playing surprising heroes and/or anti-heroes in genre-blending films, most notably in Edgar Wright’s Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End). Pegg astonishingly turned the latter film’s immature man child, Gary King, into a likable character. Likewise, in supporting roles in blockbuster reboots, from the Mission Impossible to Star Trek franchises, his wise-cracking characters add memorable moments of levity to the straight-up action. In his latest film, Kill Me Three Times, Pegg plays hitman Charlie Wolfe, a character who’s neither menacing nor mercurial; he’s just boring—and that’s a crime.
The “dark comedic thriller” description is attached much too liberally—and incorrectly—to films, and Kill Me Three Times is a prime example. Directed by Kriv Stenders (Red Dog, 2011), the film borrows inspiration from Pulp Fiction and No Country for Old Men. To an extent, Pegg’s murderous character mimics Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) in the Coen Brothers’ film, as Charlie barely has any lines during the first part of the film. Unfortunately, the character’s no Anton, and even a weird bowl cut on Pegg wouldn’t help make the character more interesting (though he does sport a keen handlebar-meets-Fu Manchu mustache).
James McFarland’s script, which languished for several years in development, lacks a playfulness in its dialogue and doesn’t venture much into comedic territory. When Kill Me Three Times does attempt humor, the jokes and gags land with a thud: In an early sequence, Charlie takes a cell phone call—just before shooting his wounded victim at close range—in order to book his next gig.
The film comprises puzzle pieces that are assembled through flashbacks and shuffled sequences. Charlie’s primary assignment is to kill Alice (Alice Braga), the estranged wife of beach motel/club owner, Jack (Callan Mulvey). Although he’s a control freak who smacks Alice around, it’s Jack who feels wronged when she falls in love with local mechanic (Luke Hemsworth). Though it seems like a simple enough assignment, Charlie soon finds himself entangled in a separate, but related murder scheme involving a dentist drowning in gambling debts and a murderous insurance scam.